The Wild Magic of Winter

When I was writing “The Song of the Cypress”, part of my daily writing routine was walking the nearby woods with Stella, our German Shepherd dog and the inspiration for the dog, Luna, in the novel. Since she died I had found it hard to walk the much-loved paths, without her tail spiralling madly in front of me and her constant checking to make sure I was keeping up.

Yesterday I walked with little Drake, who at 4 months is fast becoming my best friend. It is not the most spectacular season for walkies but I love winter and delighted in Drake’s enthusiasm.

Here are some photos of my Tuscan woods. It’s the tiny details that draw me, the iced-over puddles, the bare trees decorated with soft moss and pale lichens.

I found that my heart was opening up again as I responded to the beauty around me. With the cold fizzing on my cheeks and the wind tugging my hair and clothes, I felt truly alive to the magic of nature. Drake felt it too. His soft ears flopping madly, he charged towards me then raced off again, nose to the ground. Amazingly he listened to my NO, and didn’t run off to find the wild boar or leap into the puddles.

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4 thoughts on “The Wild Magic of Winter”

Beautiful, Tonia. I’m so happy for you. With Drake, you are opening your heart to the amazing beauty of the world again. Goodness! I’m glad he listens and doesn’t go charging after the boars! We have severely dangerous feral hogs in Texas and a group of four almost got Scot (collie) and me! I never knew before that incident…but pigs can growl! So stay safe and enjoy each day with your lovely walking buddy!

I know about the boar Stephanie! Fortunately for me my only close encounter with one was when I had Stella with me. The boar had little ones to protect and big tusks to do that with. For once I had the dog on the lead and she and I just froze. We were lucky. Mummy pig decided to run and I’ve never been so relieved 🙂

Oh Tonia, how lovely you are having such a wonderful time with little Drake! And yes, I’m glad he listens to ‘no’ too! It would be terrible for him to get into a scrape with a wild boar! I hope there aren’t too many of them about!